Day Forty Five

I woke up to another beautiful day today. It was sunny and the temperature was mild as I made my way to the shower and went through my morning routine. I remember thinking that it felt like a spring day in New York almost...mid-60's and no humidity...I guess I better enjoy it now.

We went over to the ANA PA office this morning because the Command Sergeant Major for NTMA and CSTC-A (I really don't want to spell them out - just know that this is the top enlisted guy in these parts right now) was here to visit with the ANA Command Sergeant Major to talk about some ANA issues. I was there to train with my ANA PA guys, but that last all of 5 minutes when my PA guy just left the room the meeting was in. Go figure. Actually, I found out later that they had another shoot to go to. They didn't really see the importance of this meeting and didn't view it as news. Interesting. The top enlisted guy in Afghanistan is here talking to your top enlisted guy about YOUR Army's issues. That's not important?! Really?

I documented the meeting myself and after it was over, I conducted an interview with the ANA Sergeant Major. The Army Sergeant Major had to leave, as the roar of MRAP vehicles there to pick him up could be heard from inside the building. So, I did the interview and brought all the footage back to our office to start digitizing and working on it. I had Bari translate the ANA CSM's interview so I could use a voice-over to post to YouTube in English (it will be up there tomorrow). I didn't get it quite finished, and decided I needed a break. To the gym I went.

I was sitting on eighty nine miles to start the day. Sandy was at ninety five and was sure to hit one hundred today for sure. Chris is back a little ways, and wasn't a threat to hit one hundred for a few days with the schedule he's on for marathon training. So...as I left for the gym a little earlier than usual, I thought about a comment I made to Chris a couple days ago. The comment was, "I will be the first to break one hundred miles." I didn't honestly think I would be at the time, but I thought about it long and hard as the dirty rubber mat underneath my feet started spinning at the 7.0 level I had set it on.

After three miles, I felt real good and knew I had a shot to go the full eleven miles I needed to get to one hundred total. I knew that Sandy would run at least five later in the day when she works out, so I could definitely be the FIRST to break one hundred...as long as I do the eleven I needed. Three miles turned into six miles...six miles turned into nine miles. At this point, I had to start the machine over again and tell it I wanted to run for twenty more minutes. The maximum time the machine will let you run is ninety minutes at one time. Well, the first ninety minutes only got me to nine miles, so...I did what I had to do. The last couple miles weren't as bad as I had thought they'd be. Sure, I was tired and my knees ached, but I did run the eleven miles needed to be the first one in the office to one hundred miles total. I was happy. One hundred miles in twenty eight days (not counting the days off I took - so it was actually less than twenty eight days)...not too bad...and I'm down twelve pounds. That is not the end of the story however. Sandy did run this afternoon, and she had seen my one hundred prior to running herself. She was sitting on ninety five miles, and I knew she'd just go run six miles to break one hundred herself AND maintain the lead. She did. I got my photo first though. HAHAHA I also got an updated one after she ran too...ya know...just to be fair.

I worked some more on my video, but just wasn't feeling it tonight. We went to dinner, watched a movie in the office, then everyone went their separate ways like usual. So here I sit, trying to keep this damn thing up to date. It's tough sometimes with the work picking up here, the amount of people waiting for computers growing, and the internet connection being so slow because of it. I'll take what I can get though. It's better than nothing.

Today was a pretty good day. It seems like the days are moving along, and they don't seem so much the same like the "Groundhog's Day" mode I was in early on. Things are good here. We're progressing and doing many "firsts" here. It feels good to be a part of that, and set the bar for those that follow. I have a great team here and it's nice to get up in the morning and be happy to go to work. Any of my Airmen will tell you that I'm big about that for them. If you wake up in the morning and hate going to work to do what you do...well...I just can't imagine it. I have the greatest job in the Air Force and am thankful every day that I'm not smart enough to be a 3C0 computer operator and washed out of that tech school before retraining into the video field. [OK, I know the comments are coming about that one - I don't go around "bragging" about that one!] My wife is a 3C0 too...so don't think I don't hear about it all the time! Regardless of that, I love my job and it was just meant to be this way. I've been very successful despite many ups and downs in the past seventeen years, and now I get to teach NCO's from another country how to do what I do. Amazing.

Tomorrow will be here soon, so it's time for this one hundred mile runner to get to bed (ok, I'm bragging...I just ran eleven miles, give me a break). I'll do my best to keep this updated daily, but as I've said, there might be a few things going on here to prevent it. I'll do what I can though. Again, I'm thankful for what I do have here, and if I can get on once a week...at least it's something.

Days Thirty Nine - Forty Four

WOW. Seems like forever since I wrote my last post on day thirty eight. Things are happening here finally, so it's been harder to find time to get in here to post my daily blog messages. Plus, the internet connection is getting worse and worse here now that more people are coming to camp. But, I'll try to catch everyone up on what's been going on.

The weather has taken quite a dramatic turn for the better as of late. It's been near or over seventy degrees for the past few days, and looks like that is going to continue. I don't want to jinx it, but I think winter is finally behind us. It's been beautiful outside, but makes you really wonder about the summertime here. I've heard that 120 degrees is not out of the question. OUCH.

Work has been good. We have alot going on now, and you can see it all by logging into our Facebook and YouTube pages at:

Facebook - RC North PAAT
YouTube - http://www.youtube.com/TheRCNorthPAAT

After the session we had with our ANA PA soldiers where I had to be a little bit more "firm" than normal, things have progressed rather well. I've trained them quite a bit on shooting techniques, camera angles, camera setup, importing and digitizing video, and some basic editing techniques. It's fun to see the excitement in their eyes once they finally start to catch on to things and can do them on their own. Of course there are problems initially, but for the most part, they're getting it down pretty good.

We're working on a couple projects right now. One is the video of "A Day in the Life of an ANA soldier" that I have mentioned before. The other is a promotional video for a new concept just added to the ANA; allowing more women in the military. We've done interviews with commanders and women already, and have put some things together to get on Afghan news to promote more women joining. It's interesting, as the videos that I work on in my little office can help boost the numbers of the Afghan Army, and ultimately help the Army secure their country. The "big picture" sure is fascinating when you stop and think about it for a second.

I've been running still. My "runner's knee" hasn't been too bad after I took those couple days off a couple weeks ago. I'm up to eighty nine miles now, and in a distant second behind Sandy. Chris is still doing his marathon training, but know that he could run circles around me if he wanted to - like I've said before. Chris and I are lifting together now too, so I'm getting back into the weights like I should be, along with the running. It feels good. I plan to be in pretty good shape when I leave this place in a few months.

Work, work, work. That's what I'm here for, and I'm glad we're finally getting into things, and glad our ANA guys are receptive to what we're trying to teach them. We have some pretty lofty goals set for ourselves over the next few months, but I'm sure we can achieve them. Much of what we do depends on things we cannot control, so we'll see what happens. Either way, I'm alive and well and happy...and making a difference I think. That's what I'm here for.

Day Thirty Eight

I woke up this morning after an amazing night's sleep. It's getting warmer here, and the heaters are working good in my hut. I had some back problems yesterday that were bothering me, so I took some medication before bed and woke up feeling great.

The weather was fairly decent outside and the bathroom/shower facility was back up and running. Did I mention that I had to walk across camp yesterday because my bathroom/shower facility was "out of order?"

I got to work and Rohullah Amin showed up shortly afterwards. We sat down and went over basic editing information and I
taught him how to import video and start laying shots down on a timeline. He is the type person that just wants to play, so it was hard keeping him tempered for a while. Once I did finally cut him loose to try and do it on his own, he did very well. Despite not being able to read English and read all the things in the program, Rohullah Amin does a good job memorizing what I do instead. It's an amazing thing. Just think about it. Try to navigate from your home page to Google to search for something in particular, type in what you're looking for, search all the links it provides, then choose the correct one...and do it while all the words are in Dari of Pashto language! I couldn't do it. That's kind of what he's dealing with in this program, and his only choice is to memorize the steps, or learn the words. Rohullah Amin does both.

He was very excited about making things flip and turn. I think he might've used every single possible effect there was in the program's effect palette. I taught him how to create new titles and put them over video. He struggled with "in" and "out" points in order to select the clips he wants to use. He kept hitting the "in point" and "out point" at the same point in the tape, which wouldn't allow him to do anything. I finally explained it to him so he understood. I told him to hit the "in point" at the beginning of the General's speech and then hit the "out point" at the end of his speech. Then I told him that he was now going to select everything in between. He finally got it. It was cool to see the smile on his face when he figured things out. He kept saying "Brother good teacher" to me. He calls me "brother" all the time. I just kept telling him that it wasn't me...he was the one doing the work.

Three hours went by and we finally parted ways. I went and got Rohullah Amin and our interpreter lunch, so we ate before they left. I walked them to the gate and Rohullah was very happy. I think he now realizes what potential he has and can run with it. He told me that he was going to go back to his office and put together a video for me to review when I go there tomorrow morning. Perfect. Now he's getting it. WE'RE TRAINING! Sweet.

My time in the gym was good tonight. I went earlier than normal, and got a great arm workout in after running three miles (I wasn't feeling it today - go figure, right?) After that, I hit my abs good again. We went to have dinner after that, which was different for me, as I normally work out late and don't eat with everyone else. It was nice to sit and relax. After that, we went back to the office and watched a movie and Sandy showed us this site called "People at Wal-Mart." WOW. If you haven't seen that site, go check it out. You'll see what I mean when I say, "WOW."

That's all for today. I'm anxious and excited to see what Rohullah Amin has for me to review tomorrow. It's great that he has the initiative and great that we're headed in the right direction. More training is needed, but we're getting there at a little faster pace than we were before. That's a good thing and hopefully a sign of things to come. Regardless, I'm still doing what I do...and doing it one step at a time, one day at a time.

Day Thirty Seven

Apparently, someone left the door to our hut open in the middle of the night, as the temperature inside was a frigid twenty degrees when I woke up this morning. I might as well have been outside. It was so cold in our hut that the heater was turned off due to "defrosting." Yeah.

Today was "tough love" day. The ANA guys were about to see a side of me that most don't normally see. I didn't plan to get too crazy with it, but I was going to be firm. I've given in to their social pleasantries for too long already, and this time...I was going to get my point across.

We got to the ANA office and exchanged our normal "good morning" greetings. Sandy kind of started the conversation off and it went from there. We talked about them leaving the ceremony yesterday and their mismanagement of the situation. Of course, there was an excuse...everyone was "off" of work yesterday. I told them that if two of them were there, FOUR of them could've been there! Who made the decision for two people to show up? If you made two people work that were supposed to be "off," why not make four people work? We also explained that they shouldn't have ALL left the ceremony, and someone should've stayed behind to finish the job. That, they admitted to and said they'll make better arrangements next time. Again, since everyone was off work and not in the office, there was no one available to go on the next shoot with the General when he left...hence them all leaving the ceremony. Trackin' so far?

I finally started getting into some of the things I have been feeling over the past month or so. I let them all know everything I was thinking, from my thoughts of them just going through the motions and that they'll go back to doing what they want when I leave...to Rohullah Amin's "I know it already" attitude...to my thoughts of the fact that I feel I'm wasting my time and I could be at home with my kids instead. That turned some heads. They knew I was serious. Sandy was talking about things that she's said numerous times already that they still don't get, and Chris was piping in information too about them pretty much pulling their heads out of their asses. We were all getting into it at this point, and they were all listening...for the most part. The deputy was flipping through a magazine the whole time, but caught a fierce glare from me at one point and realized that maybe he should stop reading it. That lasted...for about thirty seconds.

One of the main problems we heard during the course of the conversation was that they are there to document their commander, Major General Murad. Sandy explained to them that that is NOT their job, and that they're failing at their job. Their job is to report news, not be the General's very own little papparazzi. I think it's a matter of not knowing in some aspects, as they don't think outside the box too much. They don't see the stories for what they really are. Yesterday was a perfect example. They left that ceremony to go follow General Murad around. They didn't have any idea why, they just knew they were going to go follow him with cameras. And, when we asked them today, they did nothing with the video and photos but give them to General Murad for him to have. WHAT?! That's not your job. Your job is to get news out to media outlets. So, we explained it. Why did General Murad leave (as rude and disrespectful as it might've been)? He left to go visit with a U.S. General to talk about new facilities and weapons and how they were going to expand and add another ANA corps in the southern region. OK, now why is this important? It's important for the security of Afghanistan. And why is the security of Afghanistan important? So the Afghan civilians can live a better life and the country can function on its own. BAM! There's your story. It's not about GENERAL MURAD. Find out where he's going, why he's going there, what he's doing, how it's affecting them, who he's talking to...THAT'S your story.

We talked about many things, and I could go on and on. I have to say that the end result was much different than I anticipated. At one point, LtCol Naim (who seemed to be our only ally in the office this whole time) seemed very frustrated, and that worried me. I even turned to Chris at that time and said, "if we lose him, we're through." But when it was all said and done, the dynamic changed completely. Next thing I know, Chris is teaching two of them how to work with a camera and one interpreter was helping, Sandy is talking with LtCol Naim, his deputy, and Nasir about training schedules while the other interpreter was helping them out. I was sitting there on the floor taking photos of it all and couldn't help but think to myself, "Could it really have been that easy?" All this time we've gone around and around...did I just have to be firm and take control? Did WE just have to be firm and take control? We let them know that they were doing things wrong and failing as a section. We let them know what their mission was and told them they weren't doing completing it. We told them that they were lazy. We told them they had mismanagement issues. We told them everything. It was amazing to sit there on the floor and watch the transformation. It was almost like one of those moments in a movie where you see a guy in a cubicle in the middle of a busy office, where everything around him is moving like clockwork. I was that guy in the middle, and this...this was clockwork.


Again, it was so unexpected to have things play out the way they did. As I was walking out, LtCol Naim stopped me and told me that he liked the things I said and how I said them. He told me that if I wanted to come in and "control" his office anytime, I was welcome to do so. He also said that he wanted me to go to the Brigade level PA and "use same voice" on them. That was a shock. Sandy, Chris, the interpreters and I walked away so happy today. In fact, it was probably the happiest I've been with them yet. To go from one extreme to the other in a matter of an hour was quite amazing. I'm not saying it will stay this way...but I'll take it while I got it. At least we have figured them out a little bit, ya know?

I went to the gym today and got in a good back workout. Once a treadmill opened up, I got on and felt pretty good. I felt real good in fact. Eight miles later, I was in "cooldown" mode and then hit my abs good. It's still strange to me how I can struggle to run three miles one day, then run like the wind the next day.

The rest of the night was uneventful, as usual. I get to work with Rohullah Amin tomorrow and get some training done, so I'm looking forward to that. Hopefully he'll have a good attitude since everyone seems so motivated now after our "discussion." I still can't believe it worked out as well as it did. It's amazing the things you find out about in this culture every day. Today was no different.

Day Thirty Six

Today was an interesting day. There was a Change of Command Ceremony for the Senior Mentor to the ANA Commander, General Murad. See, even the commanders have their own mentors teaching them how to do things...it's not just me. The outgoing senior mentor was a German colonel, and the incoming senior mentor was also a German colonel. In this part of the country, the main forces are led by the Germans, so it's only fitting that the Afghan senior mentor be German.

We got to the Operational Mentor and Liaison Team (OMLT) building about an hour early and I set up all my equipment. I got the tripod ready and positioned the wireless microphone on the podium. Since there was no microphone in place, and nowhere for me to clip my own microphone, one of the German officers went into the building and brought me out a tack. He pushed the tack into the wooden podium, giving me a place to clip my microphone. "Thanks," I said as he walked away with a smile on his face. That was pretty cool of him to do.

I was ready to go about twenty minutes prior to showtime. Rohullah Amin and our ANA guys were supposed to meet us at 0945 the office to be at the event at 1000 to setup. They never showed.

At 1100, General Murad showed up and so did our ANA guys. The event started and I could still see Rohullah Amin setting up his camera. He had missed the beginning. So, as you can imagine, I'm already not happy with him. I told him yesterday that I wanted him to be here with me an hour early and I was going to watch him set everything up. Obviously that didn't happen. It's getting to be a habit that he doesn't listen to me. That will change.

As the ceremony progressed, I watched Rohullah Amin. He kept his camera locked in on General Murad sitting as a spectator, and didn't move. I finally got his attention and told him that I had my camera on the main speaker, and he needed to use his camera to move around and get shots of the formations, flags, and anything else that would help support us editing the video. He gave me his typical "I know what I'm doing" look, and I could really feel my blood start to boil. Finally, he took the camera off the tripod and moved around.

Eventually, Rohullah Amin ended up back at his tripod with the camera pointed at General Murad. He just doesn't get it. That event wasn't about him. It was about the incoming and outgoing mentors that are going to be working with him. The mentality in this PA office needs to change. They are not General Murad's own personal photo and video service. They aren't doing their jobs getting the word out to the public about what's going on.

With about twenty minutes to go in the ceremony, General Murad's aide went up to him at his seat and shortly after that, the General left. Now...can you guess what our ANA PA guys did? Of course. They left too. Are you serious? You're all just going to leave in the middle of a ceremony? It was bad enough that General Murad disrespected them by leaving himself, but the PA guys left too? ALL OF THEM? so much for that story. Hell, the incoming senior mentor didn't even give a speech...why would he when his "mentee" isn't even there to say anything to? At this point, I was very angry. There was no organization, no efficient way for our guys to handle two events at the same time. As it was, LtCol Naim was there with a still camera shooting photos (like we told him to never do again), and only Rohullah Amin was there shooting video (after we told them to have one video and one photo person IN ADDITION to LtCol Naim the day prior). Frustrating. I still can't believe they all just up and left. The video Rohullah Amin shot is worthless without the entire event being captured. When will they realize that their job is not all about their commander? I did a four minute video on the event, and you know how much of it contained General Murad? Eighteen seconds. I can't wait to tell them that. It was never about him. Are these PA guys ever going to change their way of thinking? We'll find out tomorrow. I've had enough. I went ahead and did my own thing. I shot what cutaways I could to make the video work, and put it together tonight. It worked. The problem is, that's not what the Air Force sent me here for. I can still do my job and do it well. I know how to do this stuff. THEY don't. I'm here to teach, not be just a videographer. I don't mind just being one, but that's not what I'm here for. I really need these ANA guys to help me, help them.

I didn't run today. My knees are ok, but I'm really just being lazy. I'll make up for it tomorrow hopefully.

The day was frustrating, but I'm not down about it. Tomorrow, I'll deal out some "tough love" and see how it goes. Right now, I just don't know what they're thinking. I'm going to be straight-forward and honest and not worry so much about being "social" and saying the right things. I can't coddle these guys orelse they'll never change. I'll give it to them straight and see if they can handle it. Only time will tell.

Day Thirty Five

Today was kind of a slow day. I did alot of research on this script I'm putting together for this "Day in the Life of an ANA soldier" video. There's only so much I can do when I don't know a whole lot about what their normal days are actually like.

We got to see Ryan off today. Ryan was the Army photographer that was here supporting the brigade stuff. He was a reserve recall guy, and is on his way out of Afghanistan and out of the military altogether here soon. We didn't have the same mission as Ryan, but he still felt like part of the family as we were all in the same office and he's about as good of a young guy as there gets. I'm happy that he is finally out of here, and happy for him that he gets the opportunity to begin a new chapter of his life. Grow out that beard and send photos, buddy.

About the time we saw Ryan off, Rohullah Amin and Bari showed up. I talked to Rohullah Amin about his experiences in boot camp and about the Muslim religion - so I could wrap my mind around how things work - in order to try to put this script together. It really is interesting to hear how much these guys pray every day, and the rituals involved in it. I'm not one to judge anyone by what they believe in, but it's just interesting to hear how different things are. Life is centered around religion and culture here. Certainly unlike the U.S. for the most part.

After an hour or so, Rohullah Amin and Bari left and not much else happened today. I went to the gym and ran three miles, which turned out to be quite the chore. I really struggled with it today. I'm not sure what it is from day to day, but some days it's easy to run seven or eight miles...other days (like today), it's hard to run three. At least I did it. I got in an ok chest workout and killed my abs again like yesterday. I'm not working out heavy like I normally do just yet, but I'm losing weight and getting pretty cut up. I can't complain so far.

Dinner was pretty good and I watched a movie in the office. That's pretty much it for today. Hopefully the internet will allow me to post this tonight. The connection has been real bad here lately, and will continue to get worse as our small camp prepares to double in population. God help us. Another halfway decent day overall...hopefully this keeps up for a while.

Day Thirty Four

I woke up fairly early this morning, as the temperature had dropped significantly through the night and once again, my hut was extremely cold. It made it hard to sleep, and I hadn’t layered up quite as much as I had done on previous cold nights. I got up and trudged to the shower like normal and had just enough hot water to do what I had to do. It’s becoming a trend here, as hot water seems to now be becoming a luxury more than the norm.

Snow was falling as I walked to the office. .Once I got there, I grabbed my vest and helmet and my M4 out of its case. I strapped my M9 to my leg just like I do every day and made sure I had my loaded clips with me. We were headed out on a convoy this morning to the Afghan National Police camp at the Regional Training Center.

We walked to the motor pool, where we were given a pre-departure briefing - same stuff as usual - preparing us for the worst-case scenario. No big deal. We loaded up the MRAP’s and were on our way. The weather seemed to be getting progressively worse, but nothing that this monster vehicle couldn’t handle.

I’ve heard many stories about the Afghan National Police. If you look them up in Wikipedia, there’s a section just about “corruption.” Those are all the stories I’ve heard too. Police shaking down innocent civilians and taking their money, police shooting innocent people for no reason, etc., etc. Apparently, there are a good number of Taliban members throughout the ANP also, which didn’t do well for my frame of mind about going there to talk to the ANP General and offering help to the ANP Public Affairs office. To put it into perspective for you, we were told that once we get in the ANP compound, we were to have our weapons loaded and off safety with a round in the chamber. That says it all, doesn’t it? And to think…the Army guys were on their way to Marmal (Mazir-E-Sharif airport), and we were just hitching a ride. They dropped us off. I was a little uneasy not having all that combat experience sitting outside waiting for us in case something bad should happen. Oh well…I’ve been through thirty days of Combat Skills Training with the Army…I must be a trained killer by now. (Yes, that was sarcasm – anyone reading this who went through CST with me is laughing, trust me.)

As it turned out, the trip was rather uneventful. It was a meet-and-greet essentially. We went there and handed over the equipment to the Regional PAO and met the General of the ANP. [If you remember the story from a week or so ago, this was the same General that threatened to fire the provincial PAO if he didn’t give us our equipment back. We were there to give them the equipment and meet the General.] The visit was pleasant really. Walking into the office was much like walking into one of those old trailers that you might find at a run-down used car dealership. At least, until you walked into the General’s office. His office was decked out in leather couches, with nice carpets on the floor and crystal vases filled with treats on the nice, glass tables. He had weapons and nice photos hanging from the walls, with framed photos of him with Americans all over the place. Based on my experience and what I saw, this guy was legit. He got our equipment back in a heartbeat (albeit maybe for his own personal gain and/or self-promotion), and he seemed to be liked my many Americans. He was very thankful for us, and our willingness to help stand-up the ANP PA section. We drank Chai and talked for a while and that was that. It was a brief meeting, but good for all of us I think. It’s always nice to put a name with a face, regardless of who it is. The PA guy took photos of all of us with the General, so I got him to take some with my camera too (I can really see in these photos that all this running is making me lose weight). Now I have photos with most of the top guys in the region, and maybe two of the most corrupt. I'd like to think otherwise, but in this country I've discovered, sometimes things aren't really as they seem. I won't judge though...at least, not yet.

The convoy rolled back through to pick us up a couple hours later and we were on our way home. An Army officer rode back with us, and Chris had the amazing opportunity to ride in the seat right below where the gunner stands (see my Day One comments to learn more about this particular seat). It’s not comfortable by any means, and the mere thought of what the gunner might have eaten the night before rearing its ugly head was enough to make you hate it that much worse. Yes, in that seat, your face is conveniently located at “butt” level and only a couple inches might separate your nose from his back beltloops. Poor Chris.

We made it back to Camp Spann and it was nice to get out of the gear. I got back to the office and started researching some information for the “Day in the Life of an ANA Soldier” video that I’m going to be working on soon. I have to write a script for it, but really have no idea where to even begin. It would be easier if I understood more about what they do during the course of a day, but I really don’t. Oh well. I’ll figure it out. The video could be a vital tool in combating the Taliban in this country. I think I mentioned it before, but the Taliban often sends out messages to the Afghan civilians that Americans are trying to push Christianity on the Afghan soldiers, and the Taliban tries to make the civilians believe the ANA soldiers aren’t Muslim, so they will be against them. This just isn’t true. So, my video will be about the life of an ANA soldier, to include their religion, how and where they pray, and will show a truthful picture of what the ANA soldiers really do and believe. The video could really change things and have a monster global impact. I’m excited about being the guy to produce it for them. I’ll get it started someway…somehow. So I worked on research for a while and exported some of the videos I’ve done for Sandy, so she could post them on our new Facebook and YouTube sites. I actually felt productive today.

I went to the gym to run and do some work on my abs. I was sitting at fifty six miles, so I did a nice easy four miles to get me to sixty. It’s so nice to say that four miles is “easy.” After that, I did some ab work and then came back to eat dinner.

Not much else going on after that. It is bitter cold here right now, and I’m not looking forward to going back to my cold hut for the night. I will definitely be layered up before getting into bed. It’s the coldest that it’s been here so far, so we’ll see what happens. It’s supposed to warm up later in the week, so I’ll deal with it now while I have to. I can’t help but think about all the Afghan people out there who don’t even have any power to heat their homes. Some of them only have power for a few hours a day, and are limited to woodstoves…if they have them. So, I won’t complain too much. I know that there’s always someone out there who has it worse off than I do. Regardless, today was a halfway decent day and I got some things accomplished. My new training “plan” starts tomorrow and I’m excited about how I’m going to go about doing it. I hope the ANA guys are going to be excited about it too. Keep your fingers crossed!